Roof-securing device



A. N, MONTE ROOF SECURING DEV Patented'May 31,1898.

' (No Model.)

I ire Sira'rns Parent trier.

ALEXANDER N. MONTEER, OF SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- IIALF TO IV. A. NETTLETON, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

ROOF-SECURING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 604,775, dated May 31, 1898.

Application filed October 26, 1897. $erial No. 656,403. N mod l- To all whom it may concern..-

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER N. MON- TEER, of Springfield, Greene county, Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improveinents in Roof Securing Devices, of which the following isa full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forining a part thereof.

My invention relates to roof-securing de- I0 vices; and my object is to provide a device of this character by which car-roofs in particular may be clamped tightly and reliably down upon the frame or molding of the cars, to the end that the use of nails and the consequent splitting of the roof-boards may be obviated and also to the end that the holes through which the staples forming part of the roof-securing devices extend may be external of the side walls of the car, whereby the roof-water passing through said holes will be discharged externally of the car.

A further object is to provide cheap, strong, and durable devices for securing the roofboards in position more reliably than can be 2 accomplished by the use of nails driven down through the roof-boards.

The invention consists in certain novel and peculiar features of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter de- 0 scribed and claimed.

In order that the invention may be fully understood, I will proceed to describe it with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which 5' Figure 1 represents a perspective View of a portion of a car-roof secured in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a section taken 011 the line II II of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perspective View, enlarged, of one of the hook- 0 staples forming a part of my roof-securing device.

In the said drawings, 1 designates the ordinary moldboard of a car, and 2 the roofboards upon and projecting laterally beyond 5 the same in the customary manner.

3 designates a strip which is secured by nails or screws 1 at requisite poinis-viz., about vertically below the joints between the roof-board-to the moldboard 1 at its outer side, and said strip is preferably rounded at its lower edge, as shown at 5.

The hook-staples 6 are constructed of heavy wire bent to substantially U form, as indicated in Fig. 3, in order that the depending legs of said staples may be fitted down through 5 5 holes drilled through the edges of the adjacent roof-boards 2, said holes opening at their lower ends into the space 7 between the mold board 1 and strip 3 to receive the legs of said staple, as shown clearly in Fig. 2.

The staples are driven or forced down until their bridge portions press squarely and firmly upon the roof-boards, and then the portions of the legs of said staples which depend below the strip 3 are bent up against the same in the form of hooks 8 in order that the lifting strain imposed by the roof-boards will be borne ultimately by the lateral nails, which extend at right angles to the strain imposed. As such strain will be distributed 7o among a plurality of such nails, dueto the fact that they are all driven through the strip 3, it is obvious that it will be impossible for any roof-boards to become loose or detached under wear and tear or under any strain short of that which is necessary to break said staples or destroy said hooks by bending the ends of the wire back to substantially the position shown in dotted lines, Fig. 3. Such strain, however, will never be imposed acci- 8o dentally, except in case of collision or wreck.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have produced roof-securing devices which accomplish the objects enumerated as desirable in the statement of invention, and which can be used in the construction of new or the repair of old cars with equal convenience and despatch.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters 0 Patent, is-

1. The combination with a' strip secured externally of and a slight distance from the moldboard of a car, of an inverted-U-shaped staple which extends down through two roof- 5 boards, and a space between the moldboard and the strip, and is provided at its lower end with upwardly-disposed hooks engaging the lower edge of said strip, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a strip arranged outward of and a slight distance from the moldboard of a car and below the roof-boards ends bent upwardly to form hooks for reliably 10 thereof, and nails or screws extending horisecuring the roof-boards'down upon the moldzontally'through said strip and into the moldboards, substantially as described. board at points about Vertically below the In testimony whereof I affix my signature 5 joints between the roof-boards, of invertedin the presence of two witnesses.

U-shaped staples bridging the joints between ALEXANDER N. MONTEER. the roof-boards and extending downward Witnesses: through the latter and between the mold- G. Y. THORPE, board and said strip, and having their lower M. R. REMLEY. 

